Good design consists of more elements than most people consider, and it seems that good designers are rare. Look at design outside of Apple’s creations in the technology world, most of it is clunky and, dare I say, blatantly rips off Apple. One element that Apple incorporates into its design so that is more appealing that others may be missing? None other than science.
Look at the first image to the left of this article, then look at the second. You could read the text quicker in the first image. Fact. Or rather, your brain can process the text quicker and with less effort. Though it can be debated to an extent, some accept it as fact due to the differing button shapes in both images.
Simply put, circles are easier on the brain than squares. Maybe it is because life is more like a circle than a square. Never-mind the lame joke/movie reference. Circles are actually more rudimentary shapes, and how it is one continuous “line” may contribute to the fact.
While squares push your vision outside of their surface area, circles draw you inside. Thus you look at text more naturally when it is inside of a circular shape.
Though it may have seemed to be the case, the shape of system buttons was not just changed for the sake of doing something differently. What seems like a small revision is actually the fruit of research so that iOS looks better and feels more natural.
We are sure that many more elements of iOS’s interface design are based on science rather than simply preference. This is just an example that demonstrates the amount of attention put into the interface. Plus, it is compelling to hear about something that has been virtually proven to be more appealing to everyone just because it makes the majority of people (if not every single person) in existence do more work.
[research report via
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